1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock with a combined central interlock and opening drive which can be locked and unlocked by a motor and can be opened both mechanically and also by motor, with a lock mechanism with several interacting elements, and an outside actuating element which can be actuated by hand from the outside door handle can actuate a release element or directly a lock element, especially a detent pawl, via a coupling element in the coupled position, and in the decoupled position, executes an idle stroke, and in which the coupling element can be moved by motor from the coupled position into the decoupled position and vice versa when the outside actuation element is not actuated. Furthermore, for motorized actuation of the coupling element, there is a central interlock drive which can also actuate the release element or the lock element in a second function.
The concept of a motor vehicle door lock should be understood comprehensively, not only as relating to side door locks and rear door locks, but also, for example, to rear gate locks.
2. Description of Related Art
The known motor vehicle door lock underlying the present invention (published European Patent Application EP 0 710 755 B1), first of all, has the conventional lock elements in the form of a lock latch and a detent pawl which blocks the lock latch in the closed position, as well as a lock mechanism with several interacting elements which optionally actuate the lock elements. The elements of the lock mechanism include an outside actuation element which can be actuated by hand from the outside door handle or the like, in the form of a toggle lever which can actuate the detent pawl via a coupling element in the form of a swivelling level which can be moved in the lengthwise direction in the coupled position. In the decoupled position of the coupling element, specifically the position which has been pivoted by a drive projection into an undercut, the outside actuation element executes an idle stroke.
The coupling element is moved by an adjustment element out of the coupled into the decoupled position, by motorized actuation of the adjustment element by means of a central interlock drive. Upon repeated actuation of the central interlock drive in the same actuation direction, the adjustment element returns via spring force to its initial position in the manner of a ballpoint pen mechanism, and thus, the coupling element returns from the decoupled position into the coupled position.
In a second function, the central interlock drive has the function of an opening drive, specifically actuates the detent pawl. There can be an additional release element between the detent pawl and the central interlock drive for this purpose. The central interlock drive has a drive element which can be driven in two directions in the form of a driving pinion which engages a toothed segment on the adjustment element. In one direction, the drive element actuates the adjustment element, both coupling and decoupling, in the other direction the release element or the locking element.
The spring-loaded ballpoint pen mechanism of the known motor vehicle door lock can also be made with correct matching of the paths and spring forces such that the coupling element which is in the decoupled position, when the outside actuation element is actuated, can be moved by motorized actuation of the adjustment element into a storage position preceding the coupled position, from which storage position the coupling element is moved automatically into the coupled position when the actuation of the outside actuation element is omitted, and, as explained, under the action of the spring force of a spring element. This ensures that this motor vehicle door lock can also be unlocked by motor when, at the same time, opening actuation has taken place from the outside, the outside actuation element having therefore been actuated. The coupled position, therefore the unlocked position, is stored here under spring force, and after release of the outside actuating element, is automatically assumed under spring force. This is called a “luxury function”.
The known motor vehicle door lock explained above is basically made as an electric lock; in normal operation, it can only be opened by motor. Only in emergency operation can it be mechanically opened by manual actuation of the outside actuating element.
When the electric lock is equipped with a “passive entry” function, also called an “electronic key”, the motor vehicle door lock can be unlocked automatically when approaching the motor vehicle without pressing a button on the remote control module or the like.
A motor vehicle door lock system with a passive entry function requires a certain reaction phase for the control electronics. The length of the reaction phase is perceived as long as compared to conventional motor vehicle door lock systems. Pulling the outside door handle can take place under certain circumstances when the reaction of the control electronics has not yet been completed. Then, the operator is annoyed that he must pull the door handle a second time, because it is interpreted as a “malfunction”. There are various approaches to somehow concealing or shortening the resulting total time of the reaction (published German Patent Applications DE 195 21 024 A1 and DE 197 52 974 A1).
A similar problem also occurs when a passive entry function is not set up, for example, when the passenger tries to open the passenger door from the outside, although the central interlock drive there has not moved the coupling element into the coupled position yet (unlocked position).
It is not always desirable to use a purely electric lock as a motor vehicle door lock. In fact, there is considerable mistrust of purely electric locks which no longer have any mechanical opening actuation. This mistrust is based on considerations of safety engineering.
For this purpose, it could be imagined that the initially explained known motor vehicle door lock (published European Patent Application EP 0 710 755 B1) underlying this invention can only be actuated mechanically by the outside door handle. Then, the central interlock drive need only perform the function of actuating the adjustment element. This motor vehicle door lock, however, would possibly be so slow in the reaction phase that the outside door handle would have to be pulled a second time in order to finally mechanically open the motor vehicle door lock.